Mom loses 2 kids in horrific shootings just days apart

A Northern California mother is mourning after she lost both of her only two kids to gun violence within a span of 19 days.

Dinyal New's eldest son, 19-year-old Lamar Broussard, was shot and killed in east Oakland on Sunday--just three days after the funeral of his younger brother, 13-year-old Lee Weathersby III, who also died of a gunshot wound earlier this month. Now, the mom is pleading for justice to be served.

Weathersby III was shot while walking home from a friend's house after attending a party at the Boys & Girls Club on New Years Eve and died the next day. His older brother, Broussard, was killed after bullets hit his car as he was driving.

New went on to beg any witnesses with information about the killings to contact the police. No arrests have been made in either shootings. Though investigators are reportedly looking into the possibility that both deaths were linked, New doesn't believe there is any connection. "Somebody's failing these kids," she told NBC Bay Area. "They feel like it's OK to murder these kids. They have no remorse or understanding afterwards."

Reading this story, I left a lump rising in my throat. I cannot even begin to imagine what this mother must be going through right now. Losing one child is already enough to make a parent go insane with grief, but to lose two in just a matter of days ... unspeakable. My heart hurts just thinking about it. If this doesn't prove that something needs to change, that serious actions needs to be taken in order to prevent these violent crimes, I don't know what would. I only hope that they find the people responsible for these boys' deaths and bring them to justice. My thoughts and prayers go out to New and her entire family.